Android Q makes Wi-Fi sharing easier with QR codes

I miss the good old days when people left their Internet connections insecure and I didn’t have to spend money on the Internet… oh wait, I’ve said too much. Kidding (mostly)! Anyhow, in today’s landscape it’s important to have a strong Wi-Fi password in place to keep hackers (or poor college students as was once my case) at bay. Of course, that ultra-complicated password is also a pain to share with others. While there have been several methods over the years designed to make this process easier (like WPS), Android Q has a novel approach to the situation.

Starting with Android Q, if your buddy asks you for your network’s Wi-F password you can head into Network & Internet > Wi-Fi and tap on your current network. Doing so gives you a new Share button that generates a QR code. Before it’ll make the code you’ll have to authenticate with a password, pin, or fingerprint. After that, it’s time to hand your phone to your friend.

To join your network your friend simply needs to go to Network & Internet > Wi-Fi. Where it says Add Network you’ll notice an icon on the right. Click that to open the QR scanner. Scan and profit.

This feature is pretty cool and I can see it as being one of the fastest ways to join a network. The big downside is it’s an Android Q feature, which you know.. not that many phones will have for quite a while. Here’s hoping that Google makes this feature compatible with older versions of the OS through an app or something — okay probably won’t happen, but it would be awesome of Google if they did add it to older versions of the OS somehow.